Moore’s lawyers increase demand for damages to $68 million from $38 million for hit that ended former Avalanche forward’s NHL career.

Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore is attended to by the team trainer after being injured by a hit from the Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi during a game on March 8, 2004. Moore never played another game in the NHL.

Moore, formerly a player with the Colorado Avalanche, has sued the Vancouver Canucks and their former player Todd Bertuzzi. During a hearing on Wednesday at Ontario Superior Court, Moore’s lawyers said they have filed documents increasing Moore’s demand for damages to $68 million from $38 million.

During a March 8, 2004, game between the Canucks and Avalanche, Bertuzzi, then playing for the Canucks, struck Moore from behind, punching him in the side of the head, then driving his head into the ice. After lying in a pool of blood for several minutes, Moore was removed on a stretcher. Bertuzzi later pleaded guilty to a charge of assault.

Moore, now 35, never played another game.

Retribution is a key theme in Moore’s suit. During a game before he was attacked by Bertuzzi, Moore delivered a questionable hit on then-Canucks captain Markus Naslund. Bertuzzi called Moore a punk and said he was pleased the teams still had two games remaining during that season.

So much time has passed since the attack that a new generation of hockey fans have come of age with no knowledge of the case. The civil trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

The trial is expected to involve dozens of witnesses and last as long as 18 weeks. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly both are expected to testify, as is former Canucks owner John McCaw, if no settlement can be reached beforehand.

Lawyers for Moore and Orca Bay, the company that owns the Canucks, have asked for a trial by judge while Bertuzzi wants a jury trial.

Moore made his first appearance in a courtroom on Wednesday, but refused to publicly discuss his case.

The Canucks and Bertuzzi will argue at trial that estimates Moore would make $35 million during his NHL career are wildly off-base. Moore’s expert list will include hockey executives who will say that he would have blossomed into a top-six forward.

That much will be subjective. It would have been hard to predict, for instance, that Bertuzzi, demoted to the minors for 13 games during his third NHL season, would go on to earn nearly $50 million from NHL teams.

The Canucks’ lawyer, Alan D’Silva, will also try to cast doubt on Moore’s claim that he could have made as much as $65 million during a career in the financial services industry following his pro hockey career.

Moore, a Harvard University graduate with an IQ of 138, applied to Harvard and Stanford business schools, but didn’t get in. A judge agreed to allow D’Silva and Bertuzzi’s lawyers to question Moore for 45 minutes on Thursday about those business school applications.

D’Silva said he wants access to reference letters Moore provided to Stanford and Harvard, telling the court that one purported expert suggested Moore’s best career options after hockey included being a hoist operator, a farm labourer or a cook in a fast-food restaurant. The lawyer declined to elaborate after the hearing on his comments because he said he didn’t want to insult Moore.

“D’Silva’s comment was a serious distortion of the expert report and it’s false because the expert was not saying that Steve Moore should be a fast-food chef,” said Tim Danson, Moore’s lawyer.

D’Silva also wants access to information about Moore’s annual income over the past decade. While a document filed along with a business school application suggest Moore made $140,000 during one year following his hockey career. That money, a one-time payment given to Moore by his family for helping to negotiate the sale of a business, is pro-rated and was actually much less.

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